Veteran historian gains prize

A parishioner in Yorkshire has been granted the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice award for his work in ecclesiastical history

Professor V Alan McClelland, a parishioner of Our Lady and St Edward’s church in Driffield, East Yorkshire, has been granted the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by the Holy Father award for his work in ecclesiastical history.

Professor McClelland is chairman of the Catholic Record Society (CRS) and, for the last 20 years, editor of its biannual journal Recusant History.

He is also a former director of the Institute of Education and Professor of Educational Studies at Hull University. He edited Christian Education in a Pluralist Society (1988) and wrote Encountering and managing the poor: rural society and the Anglican clergy in Norfolk, 1815-1914.

The presentation was made by Abbot Geoffrey Scott OSB of Douai Abbey on July 27 during the 53rd annual conference of the CRS held in Leeds.